A huge weekend from Northern Suburbs has seen them wrap up the top seed for next weekend’s Semi Finals, with victories over Toombul and Valley as well as a final over thriller against defending champions Gold Coast.
The Vikings' Saturday morning victory was dominated by the batting of Nathan McSweeney (101 off 60 balls) and Addy Grewal (64 off 40 balls), with their 151-run third wicket stand proving the difference.
Later on against Valley, the death bowling and final over hat trick of interstate recruit Ross Pawson (3/23) helped dismiss the Diehards for 153.
However,with Norths in trouble early at 3/45, it was Addy Grewal (66 off 41 balls) who stood up with the bat again along with South Australian Harry Nielsen (48* off 30 balls) as they guided the Vikings home.
Then on Sunday afternoon at Bill Pippen Oval, the top of the table clash of Gold Coast and Norths didn’t disappoint as the low-scoring thriller came down to the final ball.
Whilst a Jackson Smith 5/23 helped rip through the Norths top order, the batting of Nikhil Chaudhary (68 off 43 balls) allowed the Vikings to post a competitive 9/130, before the fielding of Nathan McSweeney (2 runouts and catch) and death bowling of Ross Pawson (3/18) sealed an 8-run victory.
The other huge Semi Final mover over the weekend was South Brisbane, who knocked off previously unbeaten Gold Coast and Western Suburbs on Saturday as well as a sixth T20 Max victory on Sunday over Wynnum-Manly to have them currently in second place on superior net run rate.
On Saturday afternoon a Ben Cutting led (3/15) bowling effort kept Gold Coast to 9/125, before in-form interstate recruits Dylan Hunter (58* off 33) and Stirling McAvoy (32* off 26 balls) brought the Magpies chase home in the 13th over.
Then under the lights of Ian Healy Oval on Saturday, a great Souths bowling performance kept Western Suburbs to 7/134 and then the top order of Aryan Jain (53* off 44 balls), Brandon Faber (35 off 31 balls) and Stirling McAvoy (31* off 19 balls) finished off the Magpies' victory in 18 overs.
The dominant Souths batting continued into Sunday’s homestand as they piled on 3/220 in the victory over Wynnum-Manly, as Dylan Hunter produced another blistering innings (97 off 47 balls).
Wests meanwhile bounced back yesteday with wins over western corridor neighbour Ipswich, with evergreen Steve Paulsen chalking up another half century, and Wynnum-Manly which featured a half century to Sam Truloff and three wickets to Paulsen. Those wins lifted Wests into third spot, two points ahead of fourth placed Gold Coast which are in the four ahead of Redlands andSunshine Coast on run rate.
Elsewhere across the second weekend of the KFC T20 Max, there was a bunch of incredible individual performances from local, interstate and contracted players.
On Sunday morning University of QLD’s Will Crook wrote his name into the QLD Premier Cricket T20 record books, equalling the best ever individual bowling figures (6/12 Vs Redlands) to sit alongside legendary Students paceman Scott Walter with that honour.
The six-wicket haul for Crook followed up a spell of 4/22 the previous day against Valley, but with that result going to the Diehards thanks to Cameron Boyce’s efforts of 3/7 off 4 overs.
Ipswich Hornets Jack Wood bounced back from a Josh Brown blow to the leg on Friday night to peel off scores of 101* off 59 balls (Vs Sandgate-Redcliffe), 41 off 37 balls (Vs Western Suburbs) and 89* off 54 balls (Vs South Brisbane).
The Hornets' wins over Sandgate-Redcliffe and South Brisbane was also well supported by 4-fors from Josh Creevey (4/26) and Harry Wood (4/6) respectively.
Other notable individual performances included Gold Coast’s Josh Kann with 54 off 16 balls (Vv Sunshine Coast), Toombul’s Preston White with bowling figures of 4/14 (vs Sandgate-Redcliffe), interstate recruit Mitchell Owen’s allround effort for Redlands vs Sandgate-Redcliffe (67* off 30 balls & 3/18) and NSW’s Lachlan Hearne guiding home a Toombul chase over University with a classy 114* off 54 balls.
The Sunshine Coast Scorchers pulled off perhaps one of the most amazing team victories on Saturday afternoon, as they managed to turn-around a chase from 7/65 to mow down Western Suburbs' target of 148 off the second last ball (Jack Whisker 44* off 22 balls and Mitchell Cook 46* off 24 balls).
The Men’s Second Grade T20 competition wrapped up over the weekend as well, with undefeated Redlands and University of QLD topping their respective pools.
In the North/East pool Northern Suburbs finished as the second seed, whilst Gold Coast claimed this spot in the South/West pool and will both advance into the Semi Finals.
The KFC T20 Max action continues tonight with two Monday night fixtures to enjoy around north Brisbane, with plenty of excitement around the opening fixture at the redeveloped Allan Border Field.
AB Field will host the clash of University of QLD and Gold Coast clash as the Dolphins seek a win to guarantee Semi Finals, with Wynnum-Manly taking on Sandgate-Redcliffe out at Ian Healy Oval (both 6.30pm starts).
Those unable to get down to AB Field can watch the game on Kayo Freebies as well.
The rest of the second round in the KFC T20 Max is:
Monday, August 29
6.30pm:
University of QLD Vs Gold Coast, Allan Border Field
Wynnum-Manly Vs Sandgate-Redcliffe, Ian Healy Oval
Tuesday, August 30
6.30pm:
Ipswich Vs Wynnum-Manly, Allan Border Field
Toombul Vs Sunshine Coast, Ian Healy Oval
For more information on fixtures, results and highlights of the KFC T20 Max Competition and QLD Premier Cricket, follow any of these platforms:
QLD Premier Cricket Match Centre